Electronic manufacturers use printed circuit boards to electrically connect integrated circuits, and other electrical components such as capacitors and resistors. Population densities of printed circuit boards have increased with the complexity of circuitry and the reduction in size of components. For example, computer motherboards can include hundreds of components including various integrated circuits and surface mount components.
As printed circuit board designs have increased in complexity, the need for additional interconnect lines between the components coupled to the printed circuit boards have increased. To address this need, manufactures have provided multiple layer printed circuit boards where several layers of conductors are separated by layers of dielectric material. These multiple layer circuit boards are fabricated such that the intermediate conductor layers provide power and ground planes to the printed circuit board. The outer layers of the printed circuit board, therefore, are patterned to provide the interconnects and mounting pads for components which are ultimately coupled to the printed circuit board. FIG. 1 illustrates a multiple layer printed circuit board where the intermediate layers provide power, and the outer layers provide interconnect traces.
The conductive layers of the multiple layer printed circuit boards are connected to each other using vias which are plated with conductive material to provide plated through holes. The vias are located across the printed circuit board and connected to mounting locations on the outer conductive planes using conductive traces. That is, mounting pads for integrated circuits and surface mount components are not directly connected to plated through holes, but are connected to the plated through hole locations using a patterned conductive trace.
With the increased population density of integrated circuits, concerns about electromagnetic interference (EMI), power/heat dissipation, and power delivery increase. For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for a printed circuit board which addresses the above concerns while maintaining current circuit board assembly quality, including solder joints.